


Confess

by GreenPhoenix



Category: Homicide: Life on the Street
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 16:29:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12369621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenPhoenix/pseuds/GreenPhoenix
Summary: Frank doesn't need to hear another confession.





	Confess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ApexOnHigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApexOnHigh/gifts).



”I can’t hear another confession,” Frank had said to Tim, and Tim still told him about Luke Ryland. He still had to ask Frank for his help, as if Frank had any to give.  
“Go on, go,” Frank said. “I can’t stand to look at you.”  
“Then turn me in, and you won’t see me again,” Tim said, choking back tears.  
“No. It’s on you. It’s for you to do.”  
“I can’t,” Tim said. “It has to be you.”  
“I can’t turn you in. You are my partner. You have to do it yourself. Tell Lewis, it’s his case.”  
“Frank,” Tim said, pleading with his puppy-dog eyes.  
“No,” Frank said. He had had enough, and Tim would have to do it himself, or not at all.  
Tim left, giving him one last agonized look, reminding Frank of his threat to kill himself.  
So be it.  
Frank went back to his wife and children, and Mary didn’t ask why he was so silent.  
He had lost Gee, and that was reason enough.  
Villains were supposed to be bad guys like Luther and all those others. Not people like Tim.  
Frank didn’t believe Tim meant to kill Ryland, even now. His gun slipped, he had to defend himself.  
Tim was not a killer; he didn’t have it in him.  
The sin was not his own, even now.   
Frank prayed to a god he only sometimes believed in, and whatever god Tim was into this week.  
He prayed his friend would find the strength to forgive himself, as Frank already had.  
He prayed for Mary and his children too. He didn’t sleep that night, and he wondered what Tim had done. He hoped he had gone to Lewis or a priest. Frank Pembleton was not a priest, or a detective. He was just a man.


End file.
